Note: Although East TX Skier authored this post while he was a moderator, these guidelines have been approved by the current moderators. These guidelines are subject to change by moderators or Site Admin at their discretion.

This site is owned by MasterCraft. When you signed up to participate in this forum, you electronically signed a user agreement. It reads, in pertinent part, as follows:

Forum Rules

....

Team Talk is provided as a service to MasterCraft owners. Please be aware that MasterCraft Boat Co. claims no responsibility for goods or services described herein.

The promotion of products or services will not be toleratedand removed immediately unless prior approval by the MasterCraft Boat Company is received (emphasis added).

.... All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owners of TeamTalk, nor Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (developers of vBulletin) will be held responsible for the content of any message.

By agreeing to these rules, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-orientated, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws (emphasis added).

The owners of TeamTalk reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason.

Now you have reread the rules. Here is my impression of how they have been interpreted while I've been a member on this site. While some of this is just my opinion, much has been derived from messages exchanged between the moderators and the site administrator.

1. No Disparaging MC or its Partners. No Promoting Other Boat Brands. We have some registered users that own competition ski boats that are not MCs. Is there something wrong with them? Maybe. ;) But they are welcome to post here and we're welcome to pick on them (all in good fun). What's not okay is for them to post pictures of their boat on here or otherwise talk about how great it is, recommend other people buy it, or say that it's better than a MC. I'm not saying I agree with this policy. But that's the policy, and if you want to post here, you need to abide by it. Also, it's not as if you can't talk about other boats at all. But if you do, don't be surprised if you get an email from a mod about it. It's a very fine line to be walked. There are other nonbrand-specific sites out there where you can compare and contrast all you want. But I don't know of any site that has as much activity as this one does.

As for "no disparaging MC," if you're disappointed about something, you can talk about it. Just don't go on the attack. They're not paying for this site so that people can bad mouth them. It's frustrating to have boat issues. The same goes for MC's partners and suppliers. But the people on this site can help. As set forth above, offending posts may be edited or deleted with or without notice.

2. (a)Nothing even approaching sexually oriented material. 90% of the internet probably has porn on it. 90% of the people on this board may want to look at it. If you post porn here, there is a strong possibility you will be banned and your IP address blocked. In the past, we have had problems not just with people posting porn, but with people posting pictures of ladies, who, while technically wearing swimwear, weren't covered by very much material. It's not that a lot of us don't like to look, but it has been said that if you have to ask (or you wouldn't feel comfortable showing it to a typical family with young children), it isn't okay to post it here. Bear in mind that there are, in fact, children who visit this site. The powers that be don't care if any one of us can go outside and see the same thing or much worse (or better depending on your viewpoint). If that's the case, go outside. Some fresh air will do you good. You spend too much time in front of the computer anyway. Go skiing!

In between ladies and swimsuits and those "technically" wearing swimsuits, there is a gray area of what's appropriate. My advice would be to stay out of the deep end of this pool. This ambiguous area has been a problem in the past, but the bottom line is that no picture is worth losing the privilege of having this site as a resource. Mods can delete posts that push the boundaries and won't hesitate to do so or apologize afterwards. Mods can also delete entire threads. If people repeatedly push the boundaries to the point where the mods are pulling their hair out, some further creativity may be required, which usually involves Admin. taking drastic steps to eliminate the problem by dealing directly with the offending user. Please don't make the mods/Admin get creative. They have agreed to be mods only because they love this site. More than likely, they have more important things to do than to babysit some of the users here who want to see what they can get away with. The same goes for Avatars. Just because they're small doesn't mean that the rules don't apply equally.

(b) Copyright. Probably 99.9% of the time, the offending pictures mentioned previously were pictures lifted from elsewhere on the web. In other words, the person posting them did not take the pictures, did not own the rights to the picture, and did not have permission to post it from the person who did own the rights to it. Until further notice, do not post pictures you don't own or have permission from the owner to post where the subject matter is of the "pin up" variety.

The matters set forth in (a) and (b) above include both pictures as attachments and image links to pictures on other sites.

3. Mean-spirited conduct. You be nice! What's more, be respectful of your fellow Team Talkers. Does this mean you can't argue. Of course not. People argue and pick on each other all the time around here. Many of these people know the people on which they're ripping personally t'boot. Just use common sense. Don't threaten people. Don't be a total jerk all the time. If you are, don't get offended if someone tells you you are either. Try to work things out with the person though. If that doesn't work, please PM the moderators to see if it falls under our purview.

More recently, people have apparently forgotten the rule about being nice to your fellow Team Talkers. Please take this time to read this friendly reminder.

4. Trolling. I don't know of any official MC policy about this. So from one user to another ... Don't be a troll. More importantly, don't feed a troll. That means if you see a message that you suspect amounts to trolling, let it go. It will drop off the home page and be forgotten. If you respond, you'll only encourage it. This hasn't been too much of a problem in the past, but it bears mentioning.

5. Promotion of Products/Services. In terms of whether a Team Talk member can use the board to sell new boats or other items, the answer is an unequivocal NO. There cannot be any public promotion of new boats or wakeboards or ropes or anything of the sort, especially by our dealers or partners. This board was never intended to become a sales floor.

However, this board is meant to gather information whether it be useful or otherwise. Sometimes people are looking for information about new boats or products and what they might cost.

All information concerning new products by a dealer or partner needs to be relayed via PM. If someone comes on the board and says they are interested in buying a boat, then any of these guys can PM them, assuming doing so doesn't violate any territory rules.

If any information or solicitation regarding these new boat transactions that is posted on the public side of the board (or the person to which the message is relayed quotes it publically, the post will be deleted and a warning sent to the offending party. Repeated violation will be handled otherwise on a case-by-case basis.

Thread Suspension
If the moderators determine that a thread or post in a thread is in violation of forum rules, the moderators may lock or suspend the thread at their discretion.

If you have questions about what you can post here at Team Talk, please do not hesitate to send a PM to one of the moderators. We are here to help.